Free will and determinisim theory and practice in psychology

Free will/determinism continues as an issue of contention within psychology. As a metaphysical problem its resolution does not lie within the province of psychology as an empirical discipline. This project begins with the proposition that psychology needs a conceptual framework which will enable it better to grasp, manage, and control the issue. Of all the approaches available, the work of Immanuel Kant seems best able to fulfill these criteria. The implications and benefits of this approach were examined in relation to relevant aspects of psychological theory, research, and practice. An empirical study explored aspects of the freedom determinism issue in counselling practice. Scales were developed to measure beliefs in free will and determinism. Freedom and determinism items were found to load on separate factors. This suggests that a Kantian approach corresponds, in important respects, with the way people, without philosophical training, actually handle the issue. Other tools were developed to gauge attributions of responsibility made by psychologists to their clients, and the preferences of psychologists for therapeutic theories and techniques. A sample of 87 psychologists engaged in counselling were overwhelmingly libertarian in their personal beliefs and attributed high levels of responsibility to their clients. The present situation in which a predominantly deterministic theoretical and research discipline informs a generally libertarian counselling practice was deemed unsatisfactory. A Kantian approach would uphold the legitimacy and value of freedom and determinism in theory, research, and practice.